Do You Want Your Furry Friend and Your Baby to be Besties?

Six Success Tips for Your Dog and Baby to Be Besties

1. Know Your Dog and know your relationship with your dog. First of all, manage your expectations – Do Not expect your dog to automatically “love your baby as much as you do.” To a dog, babies are foreign creatures that look, sound, and smell ‘different’. They will want to use every sensory receptor available to them to ‘get familiar’ with this ‘new thing.’

2. Know Your Limits. If you know that your dog will get overexcited and will not heed your guidance, then perhaps now is not the right time to introduce a baby. It might be a good idea to first brush up on your relationship and some basic obedience to enhance your dog’s focus on, and respect for you.

3. Never ASSUME. Even though your dog may be super calm with your kids, doesn’t mean that it will know how to respond to a new baby – especially if they have never met a baby.

4. SUPERVISE at all times. No matter how well you think you know your dog, or how well behaved they are, NEVER EVER leave your dog alone with a baby or toddler. Sadly, it only takes an instant for tragedy to happen.

5. Let the dog decide. Have you ever interviewed a dog? As far as I know, no one has ever interviewed a dog. You cannot possibly know with absolute certainty what or how your dog feels in the presence of a baby. Therefore, don’t force the meeting or the friendship. Your chances for the desired outcome will be greater when each meeting with infants and toddlers (and adults too), is on the dog’s terms.

6. Set Crystal clear Rules and Boundaries. Remember, letting the dog decide to meet the baby does not mean that the dog is free to do what they want. You are responsible to show your dog what you want by remaining close, quiet, and calm. Before allowing any meetings with babies and toddlers be sure that your dog knows to keep all four feet on the ground and their mouth to themselves. Teaching your dog to respect your baby’s personal space NOW, will minimize behaviour problems in the future.